Title: Daddy’s Money
Author: Alan Chin
Genre: Gay MM/ Contemporary
Length: Novel (210 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (December 10, 2012)
Heat level: Graphic
Heart rating: ♥♥♥2.5Hearts
Blurb: Everyone needs a little help now and then. For gay Muslim, Sayen Homet, that help first came from his understanding mother, who brought him to America from the Middle East. Now that he’s working his way through Stanford Medical School, his help comes from a secret sugar daddy. But Sayen might be able to end their arrangement soon now that he has a boyfriend he can depend on a student, Campbell Reardon. Campbell is more than willing to support Sayen, even if it means coming out to his conservative family.
But when Campbell takes Sayen home to meet his parents, everything falls apart. Campbell doesn’t realize how his boyfriend pays for school… and neither of them knows Sayen’s sugar daddy is Campbell’s father, Blake.
While everyone involved struggles to overcome their shock, it becomes obvious Blake will do anything to keep Sayen. Campbell and Sayen love each other, but in the face of so much hurt and betrayal, love might not be enough to hold them together.
Product link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3440
Reviewer: Heart
Review: If a book has some type of tricky subject, it’s almost guaranteed I’ll read it and find something inspiring or interesting about it. A father and son falling for the same guy fits right in with the unusual, so I barely hesitated when it came to jumping into the story, and seeing the world through the characters’ eyes.
Sayen is a medical student who’s been struggling to get by since the death of his mother who’d brought him to America to protect him from his own family and the customs of his native Middle East. Help came in the form of a sugar daddy, an older man with a hidden identity who paid for Sayen’s necessities in exchange for sex and secrecy. But now a student of Sayen’s age is interested in him, and offering things the sugar daddy, Blake, never could. The money is still there, necessary, and a big part of the relationship, but Cameron doesn’t care while Sayen tries not to.
It all comes to head when Cameron brings Sayen home to meet the family, and his straight father turns out not to be quite straight.
This book was a realistic interpretation of life and relationships where s**t hits the fan when you least need it, and no automatic happy ending is forthcoming. It had some wonderful details like religion, which was a big part of Sayen’s life, and a rebellious sister who I just had to love. Still, when it all came together, this wasn’t a book I wanted to read.
The characters had their depths, the writing was excellent, and the plot twisted enough to make this book stand out from just an ordinary contemporary. But when it comes down to it, I wasn’t happy with any of the characters, or with the resolutions. Their emotional investment was nothing but empty words, and what author interpreted as stubbornness was pure idiotism to me. Not to say I disagreed with certain decision, or approved others, but the paths the men chose, and the hold they had to doing the ‘right thing’ gave me a headache. So, like I said at the beginning, this book was just like real life, but I read romantic fiction because I don’t want to live in the real life for a few hours, but rather escape into someone’s perfect ending.
I rooted for Sayen and Blake for most of the book because I do like May/December romances, but I doubt I would have been happy even if that pairing was the focus. Both the father and the son were too insecure and self-centered to make for loveable characters, and Sayen was just too lost most of the time. He followed the money even when he said those magic words, and without any more substance to him, I couldn’t find any will in me to romanticize him in any way. The readers should also be aware of incestuous abuse mentioned in the book, not explicit but with a somewhat romantic note to it that certainly wasn’t the high point of the book.
As my first venture into this praised author’s work, I can say I didn’t receive what I’d expected, and certainly have my reservations when it comes to his other work.